[JoInTV]

Vinny,

You’re right about Yorkies sometimes being too smart! Our 13-year-old Yorkie has US trained quite well. You’re also correct about it being hard to change their bathroom habits. But my Max knows that waking Mommy up in the middle of the night isn’t a smart thing to do, so he always goes to my husband’s side of the bed and gets Daddy to get up to let him out during the night. If nothing else, we’re just both very thankful that he knows enough to wake somebody up because going in the house is NOT an option. A doggy door wouldn’t work for us because we have coyotes, hawks and large owls in the area. A 9-pound pooch would be a tasty treat indeed for any of these critters, so he’s never outside without one of us there with him. I even keep a baseball bat in the corner of the lanai, just in case. Coyotes can leap over our 6-foot concrete fence walls with ease, so the fencing is not a deterrent.

My husband and I will have to live vicariously through you and all of the other TV residents on this forum for another couple of years as the housing market in the Phoenix metro area is so depressed with so many short sales and foreclosures that we can’t sell our home unless we price it at the same level as those short sales and foreclosures. Our house has been on the market for almost 4 months with several dozen showings. Everyone loves it and wants it, but doesn’t want to pay more than the area short sales/foreclosures. We don’t have to sell, and refuse to give it away. We’re not looking to make a profit on the sale, just not lose a great deal just because others in the neighborhood made poor choices in paying way too much during the boom and now either they can’t afford the mortgage or are just walking away.

Sorry to get off on a tangent there…..

Anyway, anyone who has a Yorkie knows how smart and full of personality they are. You shouldn’t have any trouble training your little cuties the hang of using the doggy door. Best of luck and enjoy Paradise!!